(SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Nov. 19, 2014) Lori Mould ‘14, a SUNY Empire State College alumna and current graduate student, is a recipient of the annual ACT Excellence and Student Initiative Scholarship for SUNY comprehensive colleges.

A two-time recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence, Mould also is president of the State University of New York Student Assembly and represents all of SUNY’s 460,000 students as a member of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

“I love the fact that part of the ACT Scholarship award is a $250 donation to the charity of my choice,” said Mould. “I chose the Genesee County YWCA Domestic Violence Program, because I have had the privilege to work with its staff in the past and they are doing amazing things to help victims, survivors and their families. As the holiday season approaches, I know that this donation will help the program reach someone and make their life a little bit safer and better. I am grateful to ACT for this scholarship and for the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others.”

The scholarship is an academic award given by the Association of Council Members and College Trustees of the State University. Mould was presented with her scholarship and award by ACT President G. Angela Henry, who also is a member of the Empire State College Council.

“Congratulations to Lori for receiving such a prestigious SUNYwide scholarship and award,” said Merodie A. Hancock, president of the college. “The pride of the entire Empire State College community in Lori’s many achievements is reflected by the attendance of members of the college council at the ACT ceremony. Lori is an exceptional example of the thousands of nontraditional students who come to Empire State College for the SUNY quality, for the broad liberal arts education and experience offered by the college and the flexibility to learn at convenient times and places.”

Mould received the award at the ACT Conference held last October at the Fort William Henry Hotel and Conference Center in Lake George. In addition to Henry, Mould was joined at the ceremony by college council members Anthony Esposito and Daniel Wall.

Mould is only the second Empire State College student to receive this award. Cristy Dwyer ’08, ’10 and ’13, a 2010 recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence, was awarded the scholarship in 2012.

The scholarship serves to reward students for outstanding academic performance and extraordinary commitment to their campus, community, or both. To be eligible, students must have a GPA that qualifies for an academic dean’s list and have played a role identifying or supporting specific needs on their campus or community and providing a service or solution to address that need.

A 3.9 GPA, her service with the Genesee County YMCA Domestic Violence Program and her organization of a group of the college’s students from across the college to travel to Staten Island and help with rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy are among the accomplishments that led to Mould’s selection for the scholarship award.

ACT awards scholarships to five students enrolled with SUNY’s 29 baccalaureate and doctoral granting institutions each year. There are nearly 220,000 students enrolled with these 29 colleges and universities within the 460,000-student, 64-campus SUNY system.

About Lori Mould

Mould is a 52-year-old resident of Delevan, N.Y., a single mother and grandmother who has worked in the construction industry, as a documentary filmmaker, radio disc jockey and run her own landscaping business before starting her college career at Genesee Community College, where she was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, the national honor society for students attending two-year colleges.

In 2010, while still at GCC, she was awarded her first Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. Mould earned the award again in April 2014 in recognition of her academic success at Empire State College, from which she graduated with a bachelor’s degree.

After earning two associate degrees at GCC, she enrolled in SUNY Empire State College. “As a career changer, I was attracted to SUNY Empire State College because of the ability to design a degree suited to a job that I would love doing,” said Mould. “SUNY Empire State College worked for me because of the college’s emphasis on critical thinking, writing and knowledge, as opposed to memorization.”

Mould has been active in her community organizing recovery and rebuilding efforts following hurricanes Sandy, Katrina and Rita.

Mould has one son, Joshua, 32, a daughter-in-law, Jamie, 29, and a two granddaughters, Autum, 6, and Anaka, 2.

About SUNY Empire State College

Empire State College, the nontraditional, open college of the SUNY system, educates more than 20,000 students worldwide at eight international sites, more than 35 locations in the state of New York, online, as well as face to face and through a blend of both, at the associate, bachelor’s and master’s levels.

The average age of an undergraduate student at the college is 35 and graduate students’ average age is 40.

Most Empire State College students are working adults. Many are raising families and meeting civic commitments in the communities where they live, while studying part time.

In addition to awarding credit for prior college-level learning, the college pairs each undergraduate student with a faculty mentor who supports that student throughout his or her college career.

Working with their mentors, students design an individual degree program and engage in guided independent study and course work onsite, online or through a combination of both, which provides the flexibility for students to choose where, when and how to learn.

Students have the opportunity to enroll five times during the year.

The college’s 73,000 alumni are active in their communities as entrepreneurs, politicians, business professionals, artists, nonprofit agency employees, teachers, veterans and active military, union members and more.

The college was first established in 1971 by the SUNY Board of Trustees with the encouragement of the late Ernest L. Boyer, chancellor of the SUNY system from 1970 to 1977.

Boyer also served as United States commissioner of education during the administration of President Jimmy Carter and then as president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

More information about the college is available at www.esc.edu.

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Media contact: David Henahan, director of communications

518-587-2100, ext. 2918

David.Henahan@esc.edu

518-321-7038 (after hours and on weekends)